A New York-bred mare sold for £120,000 may actually be male, an explosive lawsuit claims.
Kept True won five races with career earnings of nearly £260,000, competing against other female horses on the track. The race record, which also featured two seconds and two thirds over a period of 27 months, included the 2020 Broadway Stakes at Aqueduct.
But following the horse's career on the racecourse, problems arose when she was sold for breeding. Michelle and Albert Crawford's Crawford Farms near Lexington purchased the five-year-old at the Keeneland January 2021 Horses of All Ages Sale.
According to Bloodhorse.com, Kept True was not examined by the farm's vet – and later tests discovered she had no ovaries. The publication states that a complaint filed by Crawford attorney Mike Meuser reports "obvious abnormalities in the horse's reproductive organs" from their expert Dr. Jeremy Whitman.
Further testing revealed a genetic condition which meant Kept True had the "appearance of a female horse, but the chromosomes of a male horse."
Owner-breeder Jeff Treadway raced the horse, securing Hidden Brook as consignor for the sale.
Crawford's lawsuit claims, Hidden Brook, agent for Treadway, engaged Hagyard Equine Medical Institute for a certificate of reproductive status to confirm whether Kept True was pregnant or suitable for mating. The documentation is needed for horses offered as broodmare prospects.
The certificate was signed off by Dr Karen Wolfsdorf and put on file. According to Crawford, Kept True was bought in reliance upon the same.
Vets at Cornell University Hospital for Animals confirmed Dr Whitman's analysis, that Kept True has XY (male) chromosomes and is unsound for breeding.
The lawsuit came about, according to the complaint, when Crawford requested the sale of the horse was cancelled and reimbursement of expenses for Kept True's care. This was turned down which led to the unusual case's progress in America.
The lawsuit named as defendants all the parties involved in the sale, some involved in various defences and cross-claims. Crawford has not been able to annul the sale.
Owners and trainers of horses defeated by Kept True, who competed at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga, are unlikely to receive extra prize money on the back of the case.
That's because the time limit for objections has passed, the report adds.
